United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced the readiness of the waste management system for its under-construction Al Taweelah alumina refinery.

The milestone comes as EGA prepares to begin production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery during the first half of next year.

Bauxite residue is a by-product of alumina refining, and EGA’s goal is to responsibly manage its storage and develop potential re-uses.

EGA has completed construction of a dedicated storage area for bauxite residue about 30 kilometres from Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi.

When Al Taweelah alumina refinery starts production, bauxite residue will be washed, pressed into a dry cake, and transported to the area for permanent managed storage using a fleet of sealed trucks. The storage site will be progressively sealed and landscaped, with the land re-used for potential projects from warehousing to a solar farm.

EGA has signed a contract with global waste management company Veolia to manage the transport of bauxite residue and the storage facility.

Zaher Al Habtari, Senior Vice President of Refinery Operations at EGA, said: “The responsible management of bauxite residue has been a key priority for Al Taweelah alumina refinery since the project was on the drawing board, and UAE environmental regulators rightly set tough standards. I am confident that we have a world-class storage solution in place, but our ambitions are much higher as we aim in the longer term to turn this waste into value through innovation.” 

Industry experts estimate that at least 150 million tonnes of bauxite residue are produced worldwide each year. It is thought that less than two percent of this is currently put to productive use.

EGA is working with the American University of Sharjah, The University of Queensland and other universities, as well as expert consultancies, to research and develop economic uses for bauxite residue which, if successful, would be a global breakthrough for the aluminium industry.

Potential uses being explored include converting bauxite residue with agricultural and domestic wastes into soil for greening, and using bauxite residue to produce bulk construction materials.

-Ends-

Contacts at EGA:

Simon Buerk

sbuerk@ega.ae 

056 3111 536

Fatima Al Mutawa

falmutawa@ega.ae 

050 327 7545

Khadija Al Marzooqi

kalmarzooqi@ega.ae 

050 8777 850

Sahar Farhat

sfarhat@ega.ae 

050 1213 420

Ameera Al Marzooqi

amarzooqi@ega.ae 

050 957 9672 

About EGA

Emirates Global Aluminium is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

It is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry, and the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2017, EGA produced 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 350 customers in over 60 countries. About 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Over 10 per cent of EGA’s production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE already employs around 30,000 people, making it the largest employer amongst the UAE’s energy intensive industries.

EGA itself employs around 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, Emirates Global Aluminium aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities.

In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

DUBAL’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, EGA’s Jebel Ali site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 5,450 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority.

EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants. In addition to meeting its own water requirements, EGA supplies 1.5 per cent of the water needs of Dubai as well as commercial water customers and bottlers.

Today EGA is expanding upstream and internationally to secure the natural resources the UAE’s aluminium industry needs and create new revenue streams.

EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation is building a bauxite mine and associated export infrastructure in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, in one of the largest greenfield investments in that country in over 40 years.

In the UAE, EGA is building the country’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah. The project will reduce the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supply 75 per cent of the Al Taweelah smelter’s needs.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae .

© Press Release 2018

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